We are in Kerala on a great south indian journey. We have quite the spread waiting
for us at the breakfast table the next morning. These days most meals are like
a buffet for a boy who was used to picking up meals at street side stalls. This
was luxury times ten. My aunt had elevated me to a whole new lifestyle. Nights
in hotels, buffet breakfasts, cars to take you around, it was insane. But I
think the most special part of this journey was being with my aunt and her
daughter. We had grown quite close over the past few days. The conversation
over breakfast was about all the antics we engaged in the day before. The
driver, then takes us to a possible starting point for a boat ride down the
Kerala Backwaters.
I wanted to do this my whole life. I had heard a lot of stories about
the backwaters, growing up. About the natural beauty of the surrounding
environment, about the calmness of life around you on the boat, about the
people you get to meet along the way. Mr Muchad told us that we planned to take
the daily, in his words, 'most popular and leisurely' eight hour backwater
cruise from Allepey to Kollam. It was 9 am, when we left the hotel, with our
bags. The boat ride across Kerala would start at 10 30 am and finish at 6 pm in
the evening.
When I looked for information about
my next destination, this is how an online encyclopedia described it, 'The
Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to
the Arabian coast of Kerala state in southern India. The network includes five
large lakes linked by canals, both manmade and natural, fed by 38 rivers, and
extending virtually half the length of Kerala state.' A blogger by the name of
Austin R Pick, spoke about how the 900 km of waterways were a network of
interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets and compared it to the American
Bayou.
We get down at the KSRTC Bus
Station in Allepey and then wait for permission to enter the boat. The three of
us were like excited little children, waiting to jump onto a merry go round.
Finally they let us in. The boat had a first floor. We climbed up to the top
and took the front seat. It was like we were the captains of the shop. Only we
din't have to actually ride the boat. Everyone on board. Let's go. Te sound of
the engine rolling and turning could be heard. The passengers looked at the
captain in awe. He was their saviour, their guide, the only individual of
importance in this circumstance. Up ahead, the lake opened up and the ocean
started. The wide open ocean. Endless, infinite, and powerful. But our captain,
was brave too. His navigational skills would take us over every hurdle. Whether
it was a storm on the Arabian Sea or a shark attack. A little boy, told his
mother, he was scared. The captain turned around and smiled at him,
'Don't be scared, my brave little
boy.'
Then I open my eyes, and we are in
the middle of the ocean. The captain of my ship is wearing an unbottoned formal
shirt, unbuttoned except for one or two lower buttons. He seemed quite bored
and did not ant to console the little child crying in his mothers lap, sitting
two rows behind him. It seemed like he wanted to just get over with this ride,
and get his dues f or the day. I climb back up to my seats on the first floor.
I am dejected, that real life is not as romantic and idealistic as I expected
it to be. I overhear a conversation,
'Oh God, you know when I went to
his mother in laws house, they did not treat us very well. They gave us some
simple store sweets and water. Nothing special. It was the first time and we
went there and this is what we get. How disappointing.
I know, what all we have to bear
for these children these days'
All the great sea novels, I have
read, come to mind. The Old Man and the Sea, in particular stands fresh in
memory. Two hours into the journey, I go to the back of the boat, on the first
floor and look out at the trail of foamy sea water, left behind by the churning
of the ship engine. I look up, and I see a boat man, sitting at the edge of his
mode of transport, looking straight into my eye, asking questions, without a
language.
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